Tablets for

Textbooks in
Schools
TEXTBOOK
• A textbook is a
manual of
instruction in any
branch of study or a
standard book using
in education.
What is a Tablet?
A tablet is a wireless touch screen personal
computer (PC) that is smaller than a notebook
but larger than a smartphone. Modern tablets
are built with wireless Internet or local area
networks (LAN) and a variety of software
applications, including business applications,
Web browsers and games.
 Pros and Cons of
Tablets
Pro
 Tablets help students learn
more material faster.
 81% of K-12 teachers
believe that “tablets enrich
classroom education
 Tablets can hold hundreds
of textbooks on one device,
plus homework, quizzes,
and other files, eliminating
the need for physical
storage of books and
classroom materials.
Con
 Handheld technological
devices including tablets
are associated with a
range of health problems.
 Using tablets is more
expensive than using
print textbooks.
 Tablets have too many
distractions for classroom
use.
 Pro Con
 E-textbooks on tablets
cost less than print  People who read print text
textbooks. comprehend more,
remember more, and learn
 Tablets help to improve
more than those who read
student achievement on
digital text.
standardized tests.
 Many students do not have
 Tablets contain many
sufficient home internet
technological features
bandwidth to use tablets.
that cannot be found in
print textbooks.  Manufacturing tablets is
environmentally
 Print textbooks are heavy
destructive and dangerous
and cause injuries, while
to human health.
a tablet only weighs 1-2
pounds.  A broken tablet requires an
experienced technician to
 Tablets help students
fix, which can be costly and
better prepare for a
time-consuming.
world immersed in
technology.
 Pro Con
 On a tablet, e-textbooks
 Print textbooks cannot
can be updated instantly
crash, freeze, or get
to get new editions or
hacked.
information.
 The average battery life
 Tablets lower the amount
of a tablet is 7.26 hours,
of paper teachers have to
shorter than the length
print for handouts and
of a school day.
assignments, helping to
save the environment  Tablets are more likely
and money. to be lost or stolen than
print textbooks.
 Tablets allow teachers to
better customize student  Tablets enable students
learning. to cut corners or cheat
on schoolwork.
 Files on one tablet can be
downloaded onto any  The higher cost of
other tablet, increasing tablets marginalizes
flexibility and poorer school districts
convenience for teachers and increases the
and students. “digital divide.”
 Pro Con
 Tablets increase the
number of excuses
 High-level education available for students not
officials support doing their schoolwork.
tablets over textbooks.
 Tablets shift the focus of
 Students who own learning from the teacher
tablets purchase and to the technology.
read more books than
those who read print  Tablets may be too
books alone. difficult for less
technologically savvy
 Using a tablet is so teachers to use.
intuitive that it makes
learning fun and easy.  Tablets are unnecessary
because print textbooks
that are not brand new still
convey relevant
information to K-12
students.
 The two –
book and tablet –
have their advantages and disadvantages,
however, in this present situation,
since our government cannot afford to give
everyone this yet
(although tablets are less expensive than
PCs),
we have to use the books that we have
(no wonder, books still remain to be the
number one instructional material in the
Philippines).
 Books are no less different than those
book that has become an EBook in
tablets. If one can afford to buy a tablet
now, then that’s good but schools should
not make it necessary to have this in
school if the majority cannot afford it.
The use of tablets instead of books is still
a choice, not mandatory, hence a teacher
can still teach using a book, and it has
not yet become useless.
References:
https://tablets-textbooks.procon.org/

https://www.eztexting.com/t
extbooks-vs-tablets